[A morphofunctional study of the hypothalamic postoptic nucleus after hypophysectomy, cooling and immobilization in...

Response of the vasopressin (VP) and oxytocin (OT) cells of hypothalamic post optical nucleus (PON) was studied in male Wistar rats under various experimental conditions. Seven days after hypophysectomy, the majority of both VP- and OT-cells became pyknomorphic which seemed to be the result of transsection of the PON-cell axons and indicated that the PON-cells released neurohormones from the posterior pituitary into the blood. When rats were cooled (2 h at 4 degrees C), the size of nucleoli in VP-cells diminished significantly, but in rats stressed by severe immobilization (20 min) these cells revealed clear signs of activation. In contrast to that, no changes were observed in the OT-cells after these treatments. The functional relation of the PON and thyroid gland is discussed.